In an effort to boost growth by moving into new businesses, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is in talks to purchase companies in the solar and light-emitting diode (LED) industries, the company’s Chairman and CEO Morris Chang said, according to a report on Bloomberg.

The world’s largest semiconductor maker has undergone a worst profit drop in seven years in the global recession. Chang said that the company could start out first purchasing a small company, and use that as a nucleus for growth. The company is considering buying companies in solar and LED sections. Chang didn’t identify any acquisition targets or specify investment amounts.

Global sales of LEDs, or chips that light up television screens, are projected to double over the next four years and solar-cell industry revenue is estimated to climb an average of 45 percent in the four years from 2010, according to the report.